Paul Hartley Looking For A Festive Lift

[JoeCovenant]

Dundee boss Paul Hartley is targeting a strong start to 2016 to enable his side to cement a second consecutive top-six finish in the Premiership.

The win over Hamilton last weekend was the first in nine games but it still left the Dark Blues better off than this time last year.

And a repeat of the start to this year would allow them to build on that.

“We are on more points than we were at this time last season — two more. People probably don’t realise that because we hadn’t won in ‘X’ amount of games before Saturday but in terms of points it has been better.

“We had a bad December last year and then we really had a good January. I think we went on an eight- game unbeaten run and we have to try to show that level of consistency again for the majority of the games.

“If we do that we can be where we want to be.â€

The year ends with a trip to Ross County on Saturday before Celtic visit a week tonight. Then 2016 kicks off with Dundee United as first foots on Saturday week.

And it looks like there could be a fitness boost for that hectic eight-day period.

Skipper Kevin Thomson (hamstring) and defender Gary Irvine (knee and ankle) were both forced off with what looked serious injuries against Accies but will be back much quicker than first feared.

“The two of them could potentially be ready for the weekend. We’ll see how they are over the next day or so but I’d say they are 50-50 just now,†said Paul.

“That’s good because over the next week I think we’ll need to look at things in terms of the squad. It’s quite tight just now and we’ll probably need to use the majority of the next three games.â€

With that in mind, young defender Cammy Kerr has been recalled early from his loan spell at Peterhead and is set to be in the squad for Saturday.

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[Gedee]

Just you & your team, go pick up all the points against Ross County on Saturday Paul

And we'll all be queuing up tae pull yir Christmas Crackers      (One game at a time)